URBAN-RURAL POPULATION DISTRIBUTION

General Characteristics of Agriculture, Industrial, and Information Age Urban-Rural Population Distribution

Agricultural Age:

Rural populations: the majority of people lived in rural communities working on the land

Industrial Age:
Urban populations: in countries undergoing the industrial revolution, people moved to cities to work in factories. In developing South countries today, many people are moving to cities seeking (but not always finding) jobs and access to modern life, resulting in unmanageable cities and slums in many cases.

Information Age:
Option for some to live in countryside, in an "electronic cottage", and be connected to work via electronic communications (computer, modem, and telephone line); many people prefer to work at a central office some days, and at home other days, however.

Information/Data on Urban-Rural Population Distribution in Spain

The Spainish have long tended to live in urban centers rather than on scattered land. Rapid urbanization, however, did not take place until more recently than in the rest of Europe. Approximately 75 percent of the population lived in urban areas in 1980; in 1953, only 53 percent of the population was urban. The two largest cities each with well over one million inhabitants, are Madrid and Barcelona.

Conclusions

It is evident that these demographic imbalances are due to socioeconomic inequalities, since the internal migration corresponds to an exodus from areas with little opportunity to those experiencing a more dynamic economic development. However, the diversity of the urban industrial zones which receive the influx has prevented a more marked territorial difference in population distributions, as has happened in other countries including some
European nations.
Spain's population distribution would reflect that they are in the industrial age
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